5 Energy-Saving Myths Busted!

Taking steps to save energy and save money at the same time? Good for you — but take note. Sometimes our good intentions when it comes to energy efficiency are based on beliefs that are completely off base. Whether they’re based on misinformation, flawed intuition or old technology, these five common fallacies about saving power can actually lead you to waste energy.

1. Leaving a ceiling fan on will help cool the room.

Fans cool people, not rooms. So if a ceiling fan runs in an empty room, no one will feel its benefits. A fan works by circulating the air in the space; when the breeze moves across the skin, we feel cooler even though the temperature in the room is still the same. So when you leave the room, save energy by turning off the ceiling fan.

Attic fans are a different story. They can draw cooler air into the home and blow the hot air out that's trapped in the attic, increase energy efficiency. However, attic fans are only effective if the air outside is cooler than the air inside — usually during the early morning and evening hours.

2. Cranking the thermostat up or down will make your home get warmer or cooler faster.

If you’ve ever walked into a chilly house and turned the thermostat up to 85 degrees to speed up the heating process, you’ll relate to this practice. It’s somewhat like repeatedly pressing the button to make an elevator come faster; it feels like it’s helping, but it’s not.

That’s because thermostats are simple devices that direct the heating or cooling unit to turn “on” until a specific temperature is reached, at which time they direct the unit to turn “off.” The danger with cranking the thermostat is the possibility of forgetting to reset the temperature and therefore wasting energy. Instead, just set the thermostat to your ideal temperature.

You can slash you energy bills even more by using eco-efficient shades and curtains. These Coolaroo Window Shades block up to 90 percent of the sun’s UV rays, keeping your house cool while still allowing in light and air. Or try using insulated window coverings for year-round energy savings, like these Energy Saver Cotton Tab Top Curtains. They cut down on your cooling and heating costs by repelling heat outside in the summer and retaining heat inside in the winter.

3. Leaving a computer on is more energy-efficient than turning it on and off.

IT managers used to advise office workers to leave their computers on overnight to save on wear and tear, and it’s true that the machines of yore were more prone to breakage. But today’s computers are tougher, and switching them off is a good habit to get into, especially on nights and weekends; anytime you can turn the machine off, it will save energy.

According to a recently released PC Energy Awareness report, nearly half of all corporate PCs in the U.S. are not regularly switched off at night, which needlessly pumps 14.4 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and costs U.S. businesses $1.72 billion.

To simplify the process, most newer computers now have energy-saving “sleep” or “hibernate” features that save energy when the computer is not being used. Check the Control Panel section of your operating system for “power options” or a similar offering; the “hibernate” setting generally saves the most energy.

Because the settings don’t always work reliably, another option is to download a program like CO2 Saver, which provides a simple control panel for specifying how and when to put the machine in an energy-saving mode.

4. Closing off registers in unused rooms will save energy.

Turning off the hissing heat radiator in the vacant guest room might have made sense in an older, non-insulated home, but it doesn’t save energy with today's typical forced-air heating and cooling systems.

According to a 2003 study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “The reduction in building thermal loads due to conditioning only a part of the house was offset by increased duct system losses, mostly due to increased duct leakage.” The practice can even damage the system, according to the study: “Closing too many registers (more than 60 percent) is not recommended, because the added flow resistance severely restricts the air flow though the system, leading to safety concerns. For example, furnaces may operate on the high-limit switch, and cooling systems may suffer from frozen coils.”

Instead of closing off registers, consider setting the thermostat a degree or two higher in the summer or lower in the winter to save energy.

5. Washing dishes by hand uses less energy than running an electric dishwasher.

This is one instance where the modern machine beats the old-fashioned method: hand washing generally uses more hot water per load than using a dishwasher. The key to maximizing energy savings is to use the dishwasher efficiently. Most modern dishwashers don’t require pre-rinsing of dishes; and according to Consumer Reports, this practice wastes up to 20 gallons of water per load without getting dishes any cleaner.

Don’t bother with the “rinse hold” on your machine, for the same reason. Wait to run the dishwasher until you have a full load of dishes, but don’t overload the machine. The energy-saving control offered on many dishwashers will turn off the heat during the drying cycle, which will also help keep the kitchen cooler in the summer.

Opening the door after the rinse cycle and letting the dishes air dry is another way to save energy.

Customer Service

GAIAM.COM PRIVACY POLICY

This Gaiam.com Privacy Policy ("Privacy Policy") governs your use of the Gaiam.com website (the "Website"), which is owned by Gaiam Americas, Inc. ("Gaiam"). We know how visitors like you value your privacy, and we have created this Privacy Policy to ensure that you understand our policies and procedures, what personal information you must provide if you wish to use certain portions of our Website and, ultimately, just how we use such personal information. This Privacy Policy is a part of and is incorporated into our Gaiam.com Terms and Conditions of Use. By accessing or using our Website, you accept, without limitation or qualification, the terms of this Privacy Policy.

1. Information Collected By Our Website

We collect two types of information from users of our Website: personal information described below; and non-personal information such as information about traffic patterns on our Website.

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To access certain portions of our Website, we require you to register and select a user name and password. Some personal data is collected during the registration process. We may then ask for additional information, including personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information.

When you make a purchase on one of our Website, or when you enter a contest or other promotion, we may ask you for certain personal information such as your name, address, e-mail address, or credit card number, in order to process your order, administer the contest, or send you promotional e-mails. Providing personal information in these instances is solely your choice; you do not need to provide such information, make purchases, or enter such contests to browse our Website.

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We use the information collected on our Website for a variety of purposes, including, but not limited to, running the Website and contacting users. Our Website may also make available to other registered users information provided by you during registration, such as your screen name. We may use your information to communicate back to you, to update you on products, services and benefits, to personalize our Website for you, to contact you for market research or to provide you with marketing information, newsletters, or other information we think would be of particular interest. In addition, if you make a purchase on our Website, we may send you order and shipping confirmation emails. We will always give you the opportunity to opt out of receiving such materials.

You can remove your e-mail address from our e-mail list at any time by following the procedures set forth in the “Opt Out Procedures” section below or by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link in every Gaiam e-mail. In addition, you can modify your information or change your preferences, as set forth in the "Reviewing or Changing Your Information" section below.

Information obtained through our Website may be intermingled with and used in conjunction with information obtained through sources other than our Website, including both offline and online sources.

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Our Website may make product reviews, chat rooms, forums, bulletin boards, news groups and other community tools available to registered users and/or visitors. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information for other users to view and for Gaiam to use. Please do not disclose any personally identifiable information in these publicly accessible areas of our Website. Please be considerate and respectful of others while using any chat rooms, forums or message boards to share your opinion.

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In some cases, we may collect non-personal information. Examples of this type of information include the type of internet browser you are using, the type of computer operating system application software, and peripherals you are using and the domain name of the web site from which you linked to our Site. We use your information on an aggregated basis to do such things as operate and enhance our Website.

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You have the option to opt out of receiving information from Gaiam and our Website. This opt out messaging will appear at the bottom of every email that is sent out. If you no longer wish to take advantage of our Website or receive any form of direct contact from Gaiam or our Website, whether it is email, discounts, newsletters, or other promotional offers or materials, contact us.

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Gaiam may share your personal information: (i) with third parties who are under obligations of confidentiality with Gaiam or with Gaiam’s affiliates or subsidiaries,(ii) if Gaiam is required by law to do so, (iii) in the event of a transfer of ownership of Gaiam, merger or other similar transaction, or (iv) as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy. The following describes some of the ways that your personal information may be disclosed to third parties:

We may employ other third parties to perform services or functions on our behalf in order to improve our Website, merchandising, marketing and promotional efforts, communications or other services. Those third parties may include authorized contractors, consultants and other companies working with us (collectively, "agents"). They only have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, and they may not share any personal information with others or use it for any other purpose than providing or improving Gaiam’s services and offerings.

We may share certain non-personal information with third parties for advertising, promotional and other purposes. For example, we may work with third party advertising companies, to serve and track our ads. These third parties may serve other cookies. Our advertising partners may use the non-personal information they collect from our Website, in the aggregate, to help us better market and serve our customers.

This Privacy Policy applies only to Gaiam’s Website and does not address the practices of third parties who may collect your personal information. You may visit other websites, through links on our Website, which may collect, use and share your personal information in accordance with their own privacy policies. The information practices of those linked websites are not covered by this Privacy Policy, and we encourage you to be very cautious before you disclose your personal information to others.

In order to provide you with the information, products or services which you have requested, we may share or transfer your personal information with our affiliates or subsidiaries, or third party agents acting on their behalf.

Gaiam may be obligated to cooperate with various law enforcement inquiries. Gaiam reserves the right to disclose or transfer personal information and non-personal information about you and your activities on our Website in order to comply with a legal requirement or request from law enforcement or other government officials, administrative agencies or third parties as we, in our sole discretion, determine necessary or appropriate for the administration of justice, or in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringements or violations of any other law, rule or regulation, our Gaiam.com Terms and Conditions of Use or other rules or policies of our Website, the rights of third parties, or an investigation of any other activity that may expose us or you to legal liability, or to investigate any suspected conduct which Gaiam in its sole discretion deems improper.

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Providing a secure site is essential for your peace of mind and trust in Gaiam. We have installed encryption software conforming to the Secure Socket Layers (SSL) protocol to safeguard all of the information you send to us. All information is stored on our servers in a secure location. It is important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and to your computer. If your password is compromised, notify Customer Service at once.

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Our Website is not intended for users under the age of 18. Furthermore, we have no intention of collecting personally identifiable information from children (i.e., individuals under the age of 13). Where appropriate, we take reasonable measures to inform children not to submit such information to our Website or in response to advertisements.

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Please note that no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. As a result, we cannot guarantee the security of the information that you transmit via our online services.

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You may have certain rights under various state and federal statutes that may apply to the personal and non-personal information collected by Gaiam online. By accepting the terms of this Privacy Policy and using our Website, you are waiving all of such rights as to collection, use, disclosure and storage of your personally identifiable and non-personal information as described herein. You recognize that we are able to offer our Website and services to you at our rates based upon these terms, which are an integral part of our contract for the provision of services.

By using our Website and providing your personal information to us, you also authorize the export of your personal information to the USA, as well as its storage and use as specified herein. Our headquarters is located in the state of Colorado, in the USA at 833 W. South Boulder Rd., Louisville, CO 80027. This Privacy Policy and our legal obligations are subject to the laws of Colorado and the USA, regardless of the location of any user. Any claims or complaints must be filed in the USA in the State of Colorado.

We may amend our Privacy Policy at any time, without notice to you, by posting such revised Privacy Policy on this page, so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we may disclose it. Any changes will only apply to information collected after the change is posted.